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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28533288">Merlin’s Unavailable (Please Leave a Message with his Apprentice)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl'>YellowMagicalGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Douxie has gotten a competence boost, Gen, Merlin doesn't show up in this but Jim thinks he does, Merlin's Tomb (Tales of Arcadia), Mistaken Identity, Morbid thoughts, No Beta We Die Like Draal, Offscreen character death, The title looks so much crackier than this fic is, This might be a little OOC but I don't care, Trollhunters Season 3 (Tales of Arcadia), only somewhat canon compliant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:54:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,069</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28533288</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is not Merlin that Jim finds in the tomb, but another wizard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Archie &amp; Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan &amp; Jim Lake Jr.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Merlin’s Unavailable (Please Leave a Message with his Apprentice)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So last August, inhonoredglory on tumblr mentioned that they had “wanted to see a future in which Douxie used up his powers to defeat Morgana after Merlin died and was the one laying in the tomb by the time present-day Jim and Co. find him to defeat Morgana at the end of Trollhunters.” This is more of an au that completely ignores the time travel aspects as well as the fact that Merlin needed two master wizards to make the amulet, and then extends the medieval events of Wizards out to about a year as opposed to just a week.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Great Gorgus,” Blinky said as they saw the corpse covered in cobwebs. “It’s him.”</p>
<p>“Is it... really?” Claire asked.</p>
<p>"Must be,” AAARRRGGHH!!! said.</p>
<p>“It’s gotta be him,” Toby said. “I mean, it’s <em>Merlin’s</em> tomb; who else would it be?”</p>
<p>Well, it was also now Draal’s tomb. However, this particular corpse seemed to almost be in a place of honor. The stone from Jim’s amulet glowed, and so Jim walked towards Merlin. As Jim got closer, he couldn’t help but notice just how <em>young</em> Merlin had been when he died. Jim had thought that Merlin would have been an old man, not a boy who could easily just have been an older classmate from school wearing a ren faire costume. Merlin’s head rested on a black pillow, and Jim almost thought that his hair was tied in a bun.</p>
<p>Jim frowned slightly. Merlin had been so <em>young</em> when he died; would Jim and his friends die even younger? They had already lost Draal; who else did they have to lose?</p>
<p>Jim wasn’t able to get lost in his fearful musings, because three points of blue light rose up from the amulet before descending onto Merlin’s eyes and mouth with smoky trails. Jim leaned in closer, trying to see <em>why</em> the amulet had worked that way.</p>
<p>And then Merlin woke up, gasping for air before coughing and choking on the spiderweb. Jim took a step back, unsure of what to do. He had had basic medical training for if a person was choking, but something about Merlin’s corpse felt very <em>wrong.</em></p>
<p>The pillow revealed itself to be a cat, who stretched and yawned before patting Merlin’s back. The cat then put on a pair of silver glasses before patting Merlin’s back.</p>
<p>“Merlin?” Jim asked after Merlin stopped coughing. Merlin looked over at Jim, and his face went through a myriad of hopeful and then pained expressions before settling on a scowl.</p>
<p>“Sorry, no, Merlin’s not available right now, or ever again,” not-Merlin said as he crossed his arms over his chest. The cat put a paw on not-Merlin’s knee, giving him a sympathetic headbutt before turning to everyone else in the tomb.</p>
<p>“Forgive my familiar’s rudeness,” the cat said, “he’s grieving.”</p>
<p>“But, if you’re not Merlin, then why’re you in his tomb?” Toby asked.</p>
<p>“I could technically ask you the same,” not-Merlin grumbled before the cat gave him a withering look. “Yes, Archie. Sorry, Archie. Master Merlin was old, even for a wizard, so he had already began preparing for his death by making me help build him a tomb even though he figured that he wouldn’t need it for another decade or five. I bet he never made any of his other apprentices do anything so morbid... all because I started wearing a skull-shaped pendant.”</p>
<p>The scowl broke into a sad thing that was almost a smile.</p>
<p>“I thought Morgana was Merlin’s only apprentice,” Blinky said. With that, the scowl returned to Merlin’s apprentice’s face.</p>
<p>“She didn’t <em>deserve</em> to be his apprentice, not after she... after... after she...”</p>
<p>“Do you want me to tell them, Douxie?” Archie asked. Douxie shook his head.</p>
<p>“Morgana betrayed Merlin. Betrayed Camelot, and in one fight she lost her hand so Merlin took it, and I helped him to make the amulet. Ten months later, she killed Merlin. If I hadn’t been there, <em>hiding</em> while the battle took place... he turned to ash, and I couldn’t even gather that to bury.” Douxie turned his head away and blinked rapidly. “All I had left was his staff. Two months after Merlin died, Morgana planned on using the pieces of Killahead Bridge to spread darkness across the entire world. I don’t know, I think she said something about how it would bring balance? Or something? Thankfully, Archie and I were able to draw her away from the battle, so that we could use a spell that we had found in one of Merlin’s old spellbooks to trap her in a newborn Heartstone on the other side of the world. But, I think I messed it up, or something, because I was so tired that I couldn’t use my magic, so I Archie and I came back here. That was two days ago, for me. I thought I was dying... the amulet has... <em>had</em> some of my and Merlin’s magic stored in it, so I guess that brought me and Archie back to life.”</p>
<p>“Yes, we should’ve told that little secret to Deya, but hindsight’s always better,” Archie said. “But since we never told anyone, why are you five here?”</p>
<p>Everyone made an effort not to look directly at Claire. AAARRRGGHH!!! spoke up. “Gunmar take Staff of Avalon. We followed, tried to stop him. Friend die in process.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Douxie said before a look of alarm crossed his face. “Wait. Sod. Fuzzbuckets, did you say that he <em>took</em> Master Merlin’s <em>staff?</em> He’ll use it to release Morgana!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, we already knew that,” Claire said. “Did you and Merlin plan for the tomb to self destruct when it was removed? Please tell me you can use your magic to get us out because my shadow portals don’t work.”</p>
<p>Douxie cringed. “No; nearly all of it is being used to keep Morgana sealed. But, the amulet of daylight should still work, and we can use that to get out of here.”</p>
<p>“Uh, about that.” Jim pulled out the pieces of the amulet. “We had to destroy this to get here.”</p>
<p><em>“Please</em> tell me you have all the pieces,” Douxie said. Jim nodded. “Okay, I can fix this. I hope. The rest of you, try to make sure the area doesn’t flood while I’m working.”</p>
<p>Douxie hummed while he worked before frowning and standing straight. “I thought you said you had <em>all</em> the pieces!”</p>
<p>“I did,” Jim said.</p>
<p>“Clearly you missed one, there’s supposed to be a small metal piece right here!”</p>
<p>Claire pulled out one of her hairclips. “Will this work?”</p>
<p>Douxie squinted at it. “Hopefully.”</p>
<p>The amulet fixed, Jim called out the incantation and parted the waters with his sword. “If you helped to make the amulet, why isn’t your name part of the incantation?”</p>
<p>Douxie kicked at the ground, looking away and absentmindedly petting Archie’s ears. “Because I was just his apprentice; there was no reason for history to remember me. Let’s go and see if we can find a way to keep Morgana from killing everyone.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Now imagine everyone returning to the Lakes' house and the human parental figures + Strickler are all going "oh good my teenager and their friends are safe... why is there another one".</p>
<p>Also, given the way Morgana killed Merlin in this, it was too sudden for Merlin to ever be able to tell Douxie just how much he cared about his son 😈</p></blockquote></div></div>
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